VSP helo on Surveillence checking speed

[freqhopping]

FPO703,Far too many for an unenforcable law. I especially like this article from Minnesota. Doesn't say if he beat the ticket, but shows how it's done.

Thanks for pointing out exactly why this enforcement is flawed. I was hoping someone would bring up that case. If you or any of the police and judges involved in that case had any expert knowledge of motorcycles, you would know that the motorcycle involved is only capable of roughly 165mph. That's a 40mph difference. Plenty of human error can be induced. Has the cop been calibrated? Where is the proof he can accurately start and stop the watch at exactly the right instant every single time? Has he proven himself able to do so within 1/100ths of a second. If so he ought to find a new job, like professional drag racing. The average guy at a drag racing test and tune day has trouble cutting the light within several 1/10ths consistently. Several 1/10ths at the starting and stopping of the watch can make for quite a different reading. The higher the speed, the great the inaccuracy possible.

 

[Samuel]

As it says in the article the motorcycle may have been modified. Also you must remember its the defenses job to cast a shadow of a doubt upon the governments case not the government's. Obviously as was said before due to how commonplace speed enforcement from aircraft is it must work fairly well. Is there a possibility for human error...sure as with any type of law enforcement however even in the case mentioned if the trooper was off a little bit there are two things to consider: 1. The trooper would likely have the same reaction time starting the watch as stopping it, therefore it would not be predjudical to the defendant. 2.Even if the trooper was a little off its still obvious that this gentleman was going much faster than 65.

Keep in mind if the government wasnt concerned about fairness and accuracy they wouldnt take the average of three speeds they would clock you once with a stop watch and pull you over. IMO if people spend as much effort on trying to drive in a safe and courteous manner as they do trying to avoid responsibility for their actions the roads would be a much safer place.

 

[LEH]

Freqhopping,

The difference of speed between 4 seconds and 4.5 seconds is 25 MPH. 4 seconds is 225 and 4.5 seconds is 200. Regardless of the 1/100 of a second, the calculated speed is still far in excess of the legal speed.

Could the Honda 1000 go that fast, I don't know.

I know that in the days before electronic timing of sports events, I was a timer for several swimming meets. We started our watches at the sound of the gun and stopped when we saw the swimmer hit the side of the pool at the end. The stop watches would read in 1/100ths of a second. There were usually three timers per lane and we averaged the times, but usually we were all within 1/50th of a second.

So with practice, one can accurately start and stop a timing device at a given point.

At the speeds the police target speeders from the air, any inaccuracy is still going to put the violator well over the legal limit. And has been stated previously here, the airborne unit will try to get an average over several measured segments.

 

[windchaser]

leh, abt 20 yrs ago i was racing a honda suped up gold wing on my suped up harley. the honda had me all the way down the streatch, it was abt 3 pm and the very nice trooper said we were doing over 130 mph when we woke him up. i dont know why he let us go he was saying somthing about a long day and to many hours of paper work to do. he is now retired and i see him once in a while and we talk but not abt that night. that was a first and last for me. thanks my friend i did learn a lesson .i think if he wrote us up i would have to go to japan for insurance or might not have a license to this day. windchaser usmm ret

 

[W4UVV]

Not exactly correct

If a person contests a ticket then the pilot and the trooper both must appear in court. The pilot testifys the speed and that the trooper pulled the correct car over. The trooper then identifies the driver. This meets all the elements needed to convict. You are faced by your accusers and question either one or both.

That's not exactly correct. The pilot is flying the plane usually in a wide circle over the selected target area i.e. I95 or I295 from exit A to exit B. He is not timing a target vehicle.
The OBSERVER in the rear of the fixed wing aircraft is doing the time checks, loggings and directing the ground mobile units, providing a vehicle description, etc. VASCAR is inaccurate compared to ground radar. Listen sometime when the mobiles are doing radar checks on a VSP vehicle and comparing them with VASCAR. Often times there will be a difference in the speed readings between the ground units and the aircraft VASCAR. But this is Virginia. Keep Virginia Green. It basically is a waste of time going to court to fighting it as the odds of you winning are almost non-existent. The idiots that VASCAR typically focuses on are the obvious speeders in the fast and center lanes.